Beloved stars who were real nasty you know whats

[genius]

What beloved stars of television have been reported to be mean and pompus in real life? I know a few have been Dick Clark, Bob Barker, and Johnny Carson.

With Dick Clark's case, I had a friend who went to the Daytime Emmys a few years ago back when Dick Clark Productions produced the show and appearantly Clark(before the stroke) had a hands-on role and had some angry out bursts trying to get the show over with faster.

I know Carson had a feud with Joan Rivers. The two had been close friends, so I can see how Carson felt betrayed by jumping ship to do her own late night talk show even though it was doomed for failure. Even though Rivers apologized, Carson never spoke to Rivers again, not even attending her husband's funeral when he comitted suicide.

And the reports from Barker stems from all the Barker's Beauties incidents. Personally while I generally side with Barker on the Dian Parkinson thing, I tend not side with him on the firings of Hallstrom, Pennington, and Bradley.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Based on what my daughter witnessed, Sally Struthers is a loser. Maybe it she was the one that Archie Bunker called "meathead".

 

[flashback]

arthur godfrey was supposidly a real terrible man to work for.

when one of the singers who worked for him got a job elsewhere that didn`t conflict with godfrey, godfrey introduced the singer on the air.he said so and so is performing at such and such. I wish him luck on his last day here.

of course that was the first time the singer was told.

if it was a contract problem it could definatly have been handled better.

 

[chrish]

I assume you are refering to the infamous Julius LaRosa incident

 

[Ultimajock]

I assume you are refering to the infamous Julius LaRosa incident

...LaRosa had actually been asking to be released from his contract with Godfrey, and CBS President Dr. Frank Stanton told Godfrey, "Well, you hired him on the air, go ahead and fire him on the air!" Godfrey was actually very complimentary towards LaRosa on that "swan song" broadcast, and I firmly believe Godfrey got a raw deal in the resulting newspaper flap. Godfrey also suffered chronic hip pain resulting from a serious car mishap in 1933, so any behind-the-scenes grouchiness on his part was somewhat understandable...

 

[flashback]

I assume you are refering to the infamous Julius LaRosa incident

...LaRosa had actually been asking to be released from his contract with Godfrey, and CBS President Dr. Frank Stanton told Godfrey, "Well, you hired him on the air, go ahead and fire him on the air!" Godfrey was actually very complimentary towards LaRosa on that "swan song" broadcast, and I firmly believe Godfrey got a raw deal in the resulting newspaper flap. Godfrey also suffered chronic hip pain resulting from a serious car mishap in 1933, so any behind-the-scenes grouchiness on his part was somewhat understandable...

thanks for the clarification.

 

[therealjm12]

With Dick Clark's case, I had a friend who went to the Daytime Emmys a few years ago back when Dick Clark Productions produced the show and appearantly Clark(before the stroke) had a hands-on role and had some angry out bursts trying to get the show over with faster.

I hate to repeat myself, but.... I have met Dick Clark a couple times. Once at the American Bandstand 50th Aniv. show, as his guest, and at his office at Dick Clark Productions - both times before his stroke. He couldn't have nicer. He has a very sharp, dry, and scarcastic wit that doesn't come out on TV. Maybe that's why some people don't like him. Everyone I met at the Bandstand reunion thought the world of him. His wife, Kari, is a sweetheart, and probably runs things behind the scenes, especially after the stroke.
The people I know that know him better think he is a great guy. Very generous to his friends. Of course, he & I are just a couple old radio guys from Utica.
I can't call him a close friend but we are friendly and you've got to stand up for your friends

 

[donnyg]

Danny Bonaduce is a first class A##. Met him at a UCP (Cerebral Palsy) Telethon once ask him for his autograph, he blew me off. How low can you be not signing an autograph for a 10 year old handicapped kid? Kind of off topic, but do you know that some of the nicest people are pro wrestlers? Have gone to several matches back in the day, and the ones I have seen outside the ring were as nice as could be. Savage, Hogan, Duggan, Road Warriors, all class acts.

Donny G ;D

 

[Shepea]

George Lindsey (Goober) from the Andy Griffith Show. My husband had him on the air in Huntsville and he did not want to talk about his Goober days, Let's face it, that's all he is known for. He wanted to talk about what he was doing now. And callers would tell him how much they loved him as Goober and he would get pissed.

 

[mleach]

Lucille Ball !!

Its not hard to find stories out there that bring up the other side of Lucy. Nasty, blunt, hateful, foul language, etc.. However her diehard fans always stick up for her saying her divorce from Desi, running a major studio, stress, and so forth are the reasons why she acted the way she did.

 

[LKellerIII]

I never "worked with" stars, but in my younger days I ran a couple of retail businesses frequented by a lot of stars who lived nearby - one in Westwood Village (LA) - near Bel Air - and later one in Marin County. I have to say that the vast majority of these stars were quiet and polite at the least, and often friendly and generous at best. John Astin would come in to have a sandwich and a couple of beers (it was a Deli), and he always wanted to talk - he was a great guy - friendly and funny. Leonard Nimoy was also extremely nice (this was just a few years after the original Star Trek TV series, and his time on Mission Impossible), as were his kids, who seemed unspoiled and very down to earth. I guess they'd be well into their 40s by now.

The only rude A-holes I remember were Jerry Lewis, and Patty Duke (then John Astin's wife). But as I've read about them over the years since then, they were both going through tough times. Duke was suffering with bi-polar disorder (if I remember correctly). Lewis has since revealed he had severe chronic pain in the 70s and 80s, as a result of the pratfalls and physical comedy in his movies - and was addicted to painkillers. So I tend to cut both of them a lot of slack for their behavior, in retrospect.

Needless to say, most stars are just people, and no better or worse than the rest of us.

 

[therealjm12]

Lucille Ball !!

Its not hard to find stories out there that bring up the other side of Lucy. Nasty, blunt, hateful, foul language, etc.. However her diehard fans always stick up for her saying her divorce from Desi, running a major studio, stress, and so forth are the reasons why she acted the way she did.

Back in the day she was known to come out and talk to the people on the tour buses. She never forgot who her fans were.

 

[doublecashkgb]

Danny Bonaudce is a punk and a junkie, not a star. That he would act
that way is not a surprise.

As far as these old tales of Carson. Lucille Ball etc. Just give it a rest it
makes some of you people sound A) like your 90 years old B) You have
kept a grudge with people who have long ago passed. Be nice.

 

[radiorob2.0]

The bottom line is they are human beings. Like you they have good days, bad days and days when they are pissed off at the world.

 

[Markxxx]

The two nastiest people I met, and I worked in a 5 star upscale hotel in Chicago, were Chita Rivera and Joel Grey. Both Broadway stars. Chita was so demanding and she told me "No one must know I'm here," I felt like saying "Lady NO ONE KNOWS WHO YOU ARE!!!!" Sheryl Crowe got miffed at me cause I didn't know who she was. I didn't know she was famous. Radar from M*A*S*H I met when I worked in the Florida Keys, he was miserable, not to me but to life in general. He'd come in and talk and bitch about everything. Not about people, but the weather wasn't right, it was too hot, the fishing was bad, his head hurt, he wasn't mean to people, but he just seemed miserable in General.

Now as for NICE stars

Kirk Cameron was the nicest and his wife Chelsea Noble is jaw dropping beautiful. Don Rickles was so nice, he was just like he was in his act. Ringo Starr actually checked himself IN. Usually their "people" would do that. Ironically this was in the late 90s, and few people on my staff (kids huh? LOL) knew who he was.

I also worked at a hotel where the stars of old TV shows would do conventions. Dana Plato and Todd Bridges were so nice. They were so nice and talked and talked to their fans in the lobby. They seemed to love the fact fans liked them. Sister Sledge was so nice, but they did hand out religious pamphlets.

The worst of the old time stars were Jay North, Chip and Stanley Livingston. They seemed all put off they had to earn a living by pimping their celebrity.

I recall I was working overnights and around 5am a homeless guy comes down and tells the waitress that he forgot his money and he'll get it after he eats. She comes over to me (I was the night manager), and I was like "That's not a homeless guy, that's Mr Roper. LOL..

Dolly Parton came down one night after a show, (This hotel I worked at was behind the Allstate Arena) and she was like "I can't sleep," and talked to me she was sweet, but it took me a half an hour to recognize her. I kept hearing the voice, but she is TINY and THIN and had on an old bathrobe that was beat up and looked like it came from the Salvation Army thrift store. And of course no wig. But she was a sweetheart.

But the NICEST celebs were the wrestlers. They would wrestle at the arena then come back to the hotel. Oh they are HUGE. and I mean HUGE!!!! The British Bulldog was like 3 peope wide. But they all waited, sometimes they were in the lobby of the hotel from 11pm - 3am because all these little boys (around 6 -11 years old) were waiting for autographs and photos. I never saw ONE of these WWF wrestler's complain or say no to an autograph or photo with these kids. They really loved their fans.

 

[bk77]

With Dick Clark's case, I had a friend who went to the Daytime Emmys a few years ago back when Dick Clark Productions produced the show and appearantly Clark(before the stroke) had a hands-on role and had some angry out bursts trying to get the show over with faster.

I hate to repeat myself, but.... I have met Dick Clark a couple times. Once at the American Bandstand 50th Aniv. show, as his guest, and at his office at Dick Clark Productions - both times before his stroke. He couldn't have nicer. He has a very sharp, dry, and scarcastic wit that doesn't come out on TV. Maybe that's why some people don't like him. Everyone I met at the Bandstand reunion thought the world of him. His wife, Kari, is a sweetheart, and probably runs things behind the scenes, especially after the stroke.
The people I know that know him better think he is a great guy. Very generous to his friends. Of course, he & I are just a couple old radio guys from Utica.
I can't call him a close friend but we are friendly and you've got to stand up for your friends

OK..Dick Clark may be a nice guy among those within his inner circle, but Clark does have a PR problem. He really should have handled himself better in that Michael Moore "Bowling for Columbine" flick. When Moore brought up that death of the child whose mother worked at one of his restaurants in Michigan. Even though Moore was pushy and pretty much in his face, Clark I am sure knew the cameras were running, he should have said something like "..well I'll look into it..very tragic indeed" or something similar, even if privately he had no intentions on doing that. Instead Clark acted like he could not have been bothered and could have cared less that a child was shot to death. I can see why some have a problem with Dick Clark and believe he is an a-hole.

 

[Stanislav]

Radar from M*A*S*H I met when I worked in the Florida Keys, he was miserable, not to me but to life in general. He'd come in and talk and bitch about everything. Not about people, but the weather wasn't right, it was too hot, the fishing was bad, his head hurt, he wasn't mean to people, but he just seemed miserable in General.

I've read and heard that among all the main actors on M*A*S*H, Gary Burghoff was the only one that seemed to rub everyone the wrong way. They all appreciated how well he portrayed the character of Radar, but he was apparently not well-liked between takes and behind the scenes.

 

[Stanislav]

Lucille Ball !!

Its not hard to find stories out there that bring up the other side of Lucy. Nasty, blunt, hateful, foul language, etc.. However her diehard fans always stick up for her saying her divorce from Desi, running a major studio, stress, and so forth are the reasons why she acted the way she did.

Back in the day she was known to come out and talk to the people on the tour buses. She never forgot who her fans were.

I think with anyone of immense talent, such as Lucy, they have a very strong perfectionist streak that may cause them to get testy when things don't go just right, or when other actors or technical crew don't perform up to snuff. (When your craft comes so naturally and marvelously to yourself, it can be hard to tolerate the foibles and imperfections of others.) Doesn't necessarily mean that they are a bad person overall.

Dustin Hoffman, for example, has often been said to be an absolute monster to work with, and someone who can drive you crazy with his perfectionism, but look at the results he gets on screen. I think I read that he and Sydney Pollack were like oil and water and almost came to blows at times while working on "Tootsie." But also note that the character of hyper-perfectionist Michael Dorsey was in many ways a direct caricature of Hoffman himself, so obviously he understands the way he is perceived and doesn't mind poking a little fun at it.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

A former co-worker of mine once worked for CBS in Hollywood and he told me some things about a few of the big names at the network.
I was shocked, for example, when he said that Red Skelton was completely different than his on-air personna. Instead of being the likeable guy we grew up with on TV, Skelton was the complete opposite to his staff: Mean, nasty.
On the other hand this person said that Carol Burnett was one of the sweetest people one would ever meet. She was very kind to everyone.

As for Lucy, let me add some comments. From the biographies I've read about her she had it tough trying to make it to the big time and she wouldn't have without Desi Arnaz. However Arnaz was both an alcoholic and cheater; which put a huge strain on their marriage. When Arnaz was out of the picture Lucy had to run their company (Desilu and Paramont Pictures) but also work on her own TV show. She wasn't used to that since Desi handled all of those details. So if she was a "bitch" to some people perhaps it was because of the pressure she had to deal with. Lucy eventually sold Desilu and Paramont, making a nice fortune for herself.

Johnny Carson was not a "people person." Rich Little was interviewed once and said that he was a welcomed guest on the "Tonight Show" for years, but suddendly he was persona-non-grata and had no idea what he (Little) said or did to upset Carson, but was never asked back on the "Tonight Show" again. Carson was a private person who didn't mingle with his staff and crew after the show was over. In fact the only time people who worked for him were invited to his house in the 30 years he was on the air was his final "Tonight Show" back in the early 1990s.

 

[Stanislav]

I was shocked, for example, when he said that Red Skelton was completely different than his on-air personna. Instead of being the likeable guy we grew up with on TV, Skelton was the complete opposite to his staff: Mean, nasty.

Skelton had an ego the size of Montana, and was loathe to acknowledge his writers, either publicly or privately -- he wanted to be seen as a comic genius who didn't need help from others to be funny. Consequently, he always resented his staff and while he milked them for every gag he could get, he would barely give them the time of day.

Once, an interviewer asked Red where his comedy comes from. Skelton just smiled and shrugged and said it was a "gift from God." His writers got wind of this, and the next week they sent him the "first draft" of that show's script. It was a bunch of blank pages with a note on front that said, "Dear Red, here's your script -- just have God fill in the pages."